Louis and Keely "Live" at the Sahara
Closing (Theater and Galleries)
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When: Tuesdays-Sundays. Continues through May 31 2015

Half Vegas lounge act (circa 1958), half Behind the Music, this high-energy show—written by Jake Broder, Vanessa Claire Stewart (who also stars), and Taylor Hackford (who also directs)—electrifies as it recounts the rise and fall of middlebrow headliners Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Over the course of 90 minutes we see how the New Orleans-born jazzman and big-band leader reinvented himself after WWII, bringing the considerably younger Keely into the act (when they met she was 17, he 37), then marrying her and making them both into stars. There are plenty of A Star Is Born-style Hollywood cliches here—it's no surprise when Prima and Smith’s personal and professional lives hit the rocks (over and over)—but Anthony Crivello and Stewart sizzle as Prima and Smith, and the live band backing them is terrific. —Jack Helbig